


Dumb Mistake and Simple Nights

by h_nb



Series: Brick [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood, Friendship, Infection, Injury, Theft, Whump, Whumptober 2020, comf, falling asleep, infected wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27136721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb
Summary: Whumptober Day Twenty One: Infection
Relationships: Brick (OC) & Aela Bazyli (OC)
Series: Brick [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948501
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Dumb Mistake and Simple Nights

**Author's Note:**

> Aela Bazyli is @highqualitynot's character and is used with her permission and help

Brick woke up, and their first thought was that they were a fucking idiot.

No one had come near their van, so they had spent the last several hours completely passed out, worn down to the bone from the amount of people they had been forced to fight and flee from. They had scrambled away, managing to drive their van far enough that they were sure they weren't being followed. They patched up what they could recognize as their injuries before slumping into the blankets and passing out for so long Brick was barely aware of what day it was when they woke back up.

But what they were aware of was their lower leg, pulsing uncomfortably and feeling weirdly hot. Brick's face tensed as they sat up and brushed their leg against a scratchy blanket, the oversensitive nerves sending an uncomfortable chill up their body. They already knew what this was, and they were already dreading dealing with it.

They forget to deal with one of their cuts for once in their goddamn life and it gets fucking infected. Brick twisted their leg, looking down at the cut that was half scabbed over. The skin around the wound was inflamed and tight, and Brick knew the wound definitely hadn't been cleaned; they didn't remember doing so before passing out.

"Shit," they drew out the word between their teeth, halfway between a sigh and a groan. "Shit."

They stared at the wound, kind of wishing they could just fall asleep and when they woke up the wound would be fine. They knew that it wouldn't and they knew they had to take care of this now or they'd be all kinds of fucked up.

So they clambered out of their van and stood, a little unsteadily with the pain throbbing in their leg. Squeezing their eyes shut tight, Brick transported themself to the nearest store, leg tingling more than usual when they came back to themself. They limped slightly through the pharmacy aisles, subtly slipping antibiotic cream and fresh bandages into the pocket of their hoodie. They kept the hood over their head and screwed with the cameras that they were in the view of, just to be safe.

Back near their van, head spinning from how long it had been since they'd eaten and unsteady on their feet from the pain in their calf, Brick slumped against the side, already exhausted from that short trip. "Alright, come on, let's go," they grumbled to themself, sliding open the door of the van to collapse inside. They hated the way this one dumb wound was affecting them so heavily. There were other factors too, the lack of food as they had forgotten to eat, the slashes in the chest and arms that were bandaged more securely than their leg pulsed in sympathetic agony to their infected leg. Brick managed to reach for a bottle of water and down it as they got ready to clean out their leg.

As they did so, a text alert came in, causing them to tip their head up in surprise. It was Aela, asking them if they wanted to come over and marathon some YouTube series with them.

Brick sent a text back, agreeing under the condition of Aela buying them food. There was a small smile on their face as they turned their attention back to their wounded leg, now at least having something to look forward to after this.

The first thing to do was to dip a cloth in the small, sun-warmed container of salt water they had left sitting near the window before they had gone out for supplies. Carefully soaking it, Brick pressed the cloth to the sensitive wound in the flesh of their calf. It stung, as infected wounds always did, so Brick couldn't help the surprised gasp they sucked through their teeth as they cleaned out the wound, re-soaking the cloth once or twice more as they cleaned the wound of all they could. It hurt, stung in a way that made Brick wish they could just tear the skin clean off and get rid of it, replace it immediately with healed skin.

They ended up biting the inside of their cheek by the time they finished cleaning it, exhaling heavily through their nose to keep their hands steady as they worked. Applying the antibiotic cream was easier, the cool paste soothing on the inflamed area. Brick was breathing easier by the time they secured the bandage and took some painkillers, still dizzy but not nearly as much as before. After a few minutes, they felt well enough that they took a deep breath and teleported themself out of the van again, this time landing straight on Aela's couch.

Aela jumped when Brick formed on the other side of couch, briefly backing up against the arm until they realized who had appeared "Fuck, you scared me!" They were already smiling though, and had settled back on the couch. "Good to see you, though. I just ordered the food a little bit ago, it'll be here soon." As they were talking. Brick knew they were looking them over, scanning Brick for new injuries. "What happened to you this time?"

"Mm, nothing too bad." Brick shrugged, tipping their aching head against the back of the couch. "Just some cuts 'n scrapes and shit, I slept for a fucking long time, accidentally woke up to an infected leg. It be like that sometimes." Before Aela could interject with a concerned exclamation, Brick waved them off with an arm covered in bandages but hidden by their hoodie. "I took care of it already, it's all good. I'll live."

Aela looked unconvinced. "I think you should let me take a look at it still."

Brick shrugged. "Sure, tomorrow, when I gotta change the bandages 'n shit." Aela looked like they were thinking for a moment, and then a smile popped onto their face at the same moment Brick realized they had just committed to staying overnight. Brick laughed briefly at that, containing a wince when the movement bothered the cuts in their chest, and rolled their eyes at Aela's excitement.

"Good," Aela said, bright smile softening into something warmer that made Brick's heart beat just a little bit faster. Then the apartment buzzer rang, Aela shot up to get the food, and the moment passed.

The evening went by as it usually did, with food being shared and sometimes thrown at each other, the two of them making snarky commentary under whatever they were watching, getting distracted talking to each other only to realize that neither of them had been paying attention for the past hour. The night passed in a blur, only growing more hazy as exhaustion once again started to grip its claws into Brick's mind.

"All right, get up unless you want to fall asleep on the damn couch," Aela said, nudging Brick's shoulder. A flicker of pain Brick couldn't hold back jumped across their face for a second, and Aela drew their hand back. "Sorry. C'mon, we need to get your ass to bed."

Brick was too tired to argue, or fully think through their words. Even the pain in their leg had faded into the background, numbed by the painkillers and their general exhaustion "You coming too? 's dumb for you to sleep on the couch, just made your back hurt last time."

Aela looked tired too, and Brick realized that the clock was reading 4 in the morning. "If you don't mind," they mumbled, shrugging with a slight flush in their face as they followed Brick down the short hallway to the bedroom. Brick had an arm around Aela's shoulder and was leaning on them, or maybe it was the other way around. They weren't sure, a bit too tired to tell. All the knew was the softness of the mattress underneath them and the presence of another person at the other side of the bed.

"Night," they heard Aela murmur, but Brick was already too far into the clutches of sleep to reply.

When they woke the next morning, with Aela's face buried in their shoulder and their arm around Aela's waist, Brick tried not to think too much about disappearing like they instantly wanted to do, and instead let themself sink back into a peaceful doze.


End file.
